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Sightings
Sightings These are some of the most intrieguing sighting ever. I hope they can open your eyes to the truth behind the legend. Sparta, MI 1987 "One weekend back around fall 1987, my two best friends and I were staying at my family’s cabin, which is not far from the small town of Sparta, about 20 minutes north of Grand Rapids. My two friends left to have dinner while I stayed behind at the cabin." Following the dinner, the men headed back toward Sparta and the cabin. What happened next would shock and disturb them for years. "It was dark, and they were on a rural road. Suddenly both of them saw something standing by the side of the road. In the headlights of the car, it appeared to be a human-like figure covered in grey fur. As they got closer and passed the figure, both of them got a very good look at it. It was the size of a man, stood on two legs, it was covered head to toe in grey fur, and had a wolf-like face. It even raised its hands and seemed to snarl at them as they drove by. They said it looked like a werewolf out of a Hollywood movie. My two friends didn’t dare stop, they continued driving. And of course they were peppering each other with questions, “Did you see that too?! Was that a dog? Was that someone dressed up in a costume?” and so on. As they are having this animated conversation, they pass by the sign that says “Welcome to Sparta” and drove through the small main street, and continued on out of the town in the direction of my cabin. Their conversation about what had just happened continued, when both of them looked up to see that same “Welcome to Sparta” sign AGAIN, followed by the same main street that they had just driven through only moments ago. They hadn’t stopped or turned around. They had been traveling in the same direction on the same road, but somehow without any noticeable interruption in their journey, they had somehow been sent backwards several miles." Until this point, it would be easy to dismiss this event as someone playing a joke. However, the time displacement characteristic is what sets this encounter apart. While such things are well documented in UFO and alien abduction stories, it's something we've not seen before in dogman sighting reports. Andy continues, "I remember when they finally showed up at my cabin. They arrived no later than what I expected them to – around 9:00 pm or so. And I remember how animated they were about their strange encounter, but I just assumed they had seen a large dog and were telling me an embellished story in order to get a laugh. But 20 years later, both of them still insist that this was no joke. I have no idea what to make of this story. Maybe it was just some teenagers in a werewolf costume playing pranks. And did my friends really experience “lost time” afterwards, or did they just make some wrong turns on their drive and didn’t notice because they were talking and distracted? I have no idea, but I would love to know if anyone else has seen similar things in the Sparta area..." Oceana County, MI 2005 Most dogman encounters are very brief, and usually rather benign. Very few witnesses have ever had more than a single encounter (a fact which makes most of them quite grateful). Our next event is unique in that the witnesses shared repeated encounters in a very narrow window of time. All of these events took place in Oceana County in Michigan's Lower Peninisula. The contributor wishes to remain anonymous. "The first incident happened while i was home alone. I had moved my bed into my closet to further open up my room. My dog was in there with me and we were getting ready for bed. Then my dog began to growl, which was very unusual. He never growls. I had maybe heard him growl or bark twice in his entire ten years of life. This growl was so fierce and mean that it actually made me scared. He was looking up at the ceiling and his hair was standing on end. Then i heard it. It was loud, like something big was walking across the roof. There was snorting and light growls, so at first I feared that a bear had wandered into the area. I tried to keep my dog quiet, but he was shaking and going wild. There was a lot of scratching, like something was trying to dig through the roof - then it was gone, suddenly and without warning. A few minutes later my uncle arrived, i rushed out to tell him the story, he looked around but found nothing. He tried to pass it off as a raccoon. Let me tell you ; there is no way on earth that a raccoon could have caused that reaction from my dog or made that much noise." A few weeks later, the witness had convinced herself that her uncle was probably correct. She had a friend spending the night, and they decided to camp out in the yard. They built a small campfire in a firepit, and were sitting next to it talking. Hearing a sound, they looked toward the woods. Just beyond the light cast by the fire... "Something was walking out there. The features were canine; legs were shaped like a wolf, bushy tail, everything. But, it was way too tall to be a regular dog or even a wolf, it stood a bit higher than a deer and it was very thin. I only caught the back end of it walking behind a lilac bush, but it was enough for me. I calmly told my friend that we needed to go inside. I told her to walk slowly, since i live in the middle of no mans land, i know that wild animals are attracted to fast moving objects, and the last thing i wanted was to get up close and personal with whatever that thing was." Safely back inside, they talked about what they had seen. Whatever it was had seemed more curious than threatening. Later that same night, that assessment would change. "...we were having a cigarette out my window, and my friend dropped hers. She put a chair up to the window and crawled out. She walked a few steps, paused, looked back at me. "Did you hear that?" she asked. I hadn't heard anything, but apparently, she had heard rustling from the field beside her. Then we both heard it, a very close and very loud snarl. It was like nothing i have ever heard before and hope to never hear again. No animal that i know of sounds or looks like that. " Watersmeet, MI 1994 This report comes to us from an anonymous contributor who grew up in Cheboygan County, but spent many summers camping on family property in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This encounter took place in the area of Watersmeet, home of the famous Paulding Lights phenomenon. Oddly enough, the Paulding Lights are also known as the "Dog Meadow Lights." "I was 13, had just gotten new roller-blades for Christmas and, since the main road where our property sits is paved, I couldn't wait to ride around. I went blading by myself and stopped to rest for a second. On this road, the woods are so thick, there's not much space between the road and the woods in most parts, and I remember seeing trees pushed down on the road that my dad said was done by bears. (He was an avid bear hunter) I remember not hearing any of your normal sounds of nature, not even birds. The air was still, and the sky would be pure dark in not too long. I was deciding to turn back, when I heard a rustling behind me, and something emerge from the left side of the road. I assumed it was a deer, and paused and made myself as quiet as I could so I could watch it, and slumped down on my stomach in the middle of the road. It was about 600 feet ahead of me. When I got myself settled in the road to watch it and looked up, I realized what I was looking at wasn't a deer. It was on all fours, with grey/brown fur. At first, I feared the worst, thinking a bear had caught my scent, until I saw it's outline and color. I thought I was looking at a dog until I realized the face was too... primitive? Like a fox or a coyote's. At this point in my life, I had never seen a wolf in real life, and it was too far for me to make out the face exactly." The Michigan DNR has always recognized that wild wolves still roamed in Upper Peninsula, although they were thought to be in very limited numbers, and only in extremely remote areas. It is conceivable this witness was seeing one of these wolves; but then something very strange happened. "... it extended it's front legs, and in the slowest, longest seconds of my life, stood up on it's hind legs, sniffed the air, walked for about five steps, then got back down on all fours and walked to the other side of the woods, then disappeared. I don't remember how long I laid in the middle of the road staring in the empty space I saw this thing stand like a human. I remember my jaw hanging down as low as it could, and a pool of drool on the cement under it. It finally clicked in my mind that, perhaps, I should roller-blade my butt back to camp as quick as I could." The witness reports that while the creature never stalked or pursued her, she slept very little during the rest of the family camping trip. She never told anyone about what she had seen, fearing she would be ridiculed. At the time of the sighting, she had never heard of The Legend song, and would not until 2004. She moved to Southern California in 2008, and has no interest in camping ever again. Greenville, MI 2004 This encounter report comes from a woman who grew up in Michigan, but has since relocated to Illinois. The event occurred many years ago, but when she read other sighting reports on the Michigan Dogman site, the chilling memories returned in a flood. "I have to say reading these stories shocked me for very personal reasons. I have a story that may not be as vivid or detailed as some of the others but I felt that you of all people would be interested in it." While platform tent camping at a Girl Scout camp near the West Michigan community of Greenville, the witness awoke in the middle of the night, needing to relieve herself. At this camp, the rule was that each girl selected a buddy who would go with her if such a need arose during the night. Rather than wake her buddy, she decided she would "be brave" and go out by herself. "The flaps on either end of the tent were always left open at night. There were no bathrooms. I went out and was happily peeing with my flashlight in hand when the beam landed on a huge millipede. This startled me into a shriek. At that same moment something huge stirred to my left. When I say huge, I mean much larger than any of the adults on the camp staff. I was so scared I started to shake. I was about to move the flashlight to get a better look when the thing took off running into the woods on two legs but at a speed much faster than any human could run. It was 30 or so yards away cracking through the thick forest in a matter of seconds. I ran back into the tent and lay awake all night in my cot praying the thing would not come back for me, and expecting it to throw back the flaps and get me at any second. The next morning, I told a counselor and she dismissed it as just the camp-dream of a child. Family and friends said the same thing. The memory has stayed with me all these years." Antrim County, MI 2008 Remington Game Camera Image - July 2008 The photo shown above is familiar to any sportsman who has made the investment into a game cam. These devices are weatherproof boxes that contain a motion-triggered digital camera. They are affixed to trees or posts, and anything that moves near them will be photographed. When the owner of this game camera downloaded a group of shots taken near his cabin in Antrim County, the photo above didn't attract much attention. It appears to be a small doe passing just near enough to get caught in the motion sensor. However, just before he was going to delete the image from his photo-management software, he accidentally clicked a button that raised the exposure level of the shot. Look closely at the area just behind the deer in the over-exposed image. There is something that looks very canine there, and it appears to be stalking or about to pounce on the doe. Here's a closeup of the area in question: Our Photoshop expert has examined this image and declared that it has not been tampered with. The owner of the game camera reports that the area behind where the doe was standing contains no shrubbery or other foliage that could create the pattern of light and shadow seen here. Also, if you look closely at the posture of the doe in the first image, she does not appear to be moving, but is standing stock still. Since only motion triggers the game camera, it is likely that whatever is behind her is moving very fast indeed. Are we witnessing a stalk and hunt by the Michigan dogman? Reed City, MI 1993 The area around Reed City, Michigan, has been a hotbed of dogman activity. This report details an event that occurred nearly 20 years ago, but the witness remembers it like it was yesterday, and is unshakeable in her story. Her name is Courtney, and her encounter took place during the winter of 1993-94. Courtney was a teenager at the time, and was sneaking cigarettes behind her parents' home, near Todd Lake northeast of Reed City. The sun was setting on a clear, cold winter day. Courtney was facing a large abandoned barn on the property next door. "The barn had always kind of spooked me. It was filled with rusty old equipment. The outer planks were all rotten, and it sagged and leaned in every direction. My dad said to stay away, as the whole thing could collapse. On that evening, I was standing about 50 feet from the barn, and saw sunlight coming through the gaps in the siding." Courtney took her eyes off the barn for a few minutes, then something caught her attention again. "There was some movement; the light flickered, but I couldn't really tell what it was. Then it turned its head back and looked straight at me. It was at least 6 feet tall if not more. It was dark colored. It had a dog like appearance; pointy nose and really big pointy ears." Courtney dashed into her house to grab a flashlight. When she returned outside, she shined it toward the barn door but the animal was no longer there. She walked closer to the barn to look for tracks in the heavy snow. When she didn't see any, she realized the creature might still be inside, and ran back to the safety of the house. She never saw the creature again. She later talked to a neighbor who had seen something "the size of a buffalo but the shape of a dog" in the same barn a few months before Courtney's encounter. The neighbor said she had been so frightened she was near hysterics for days. Her father had taken his gun and searched the barn, but found nothing there. At the time of these events, neither of the girls had heard of "The Legend" song, and did not know about the Michigan Dogman legend until years later. Bendon, MI 2007 The Bendon Track This sighting report is told second hand, by the brother-in-law of the witness. The witness is a prominent person in local government, and wishes to remain anonymous. "The situation started last Saturday night around midnight when he was coming home from a friend's house in Benzonia and taking the back way home to Traverse City. He stated that while traveling down Cinder Road, several miles outside of the town of Bendon, he observed a pair of eyes reflecting off his headlights ahead of him. Thinking that it was probably a deer along side of the road, he began to slow down. As he got closer however, he stated that the object was much larger and much darker than a deer. He said that by this time, he had slowed to around 30 mph and was at that point several hundred feet from the creature which still hadn’t moved. As he approached further, he stated that the only way he could describe the creature was being similar to a very large dark wolf, however he observed that this thing wasn’t on four legs, but was upright his back two legs standing near a road killed deer. He estimated that the creature stood a little over six feet tall and had very dark fur. He stated that by now, he was going slow enough to bring his truck to a stop in the road and observe the creature which had not yet moved and was still staring at him. He told me that for a brief second, he believed that the object was a giant stuffed animal put there as some kind of joke due to the fact that he had never seen anything like this in his life, and that he was able to drive up on it as close as he was, without it having moved an inch. He told me however, that before he could finish that thought, the creature then dropped to all four legs and sprinted across the road and disappeared into the woods on the other side of the roadway. He told me that he stayed frozen in his seat for a minute wondering in the middle of the road, of what the heck had just happened. I jokingly asked him if he had been drinking that night and with a deadly serious face, stated “No… whatever that was, it was for real”. As perplexed as he was that night over what he had seen, he was deathly afraid to go wandering into the woods to investigate further. He said that in using a flashlight, he observed an animals tracks leading into the woods on the opposite side of the road and was fortunate enough that night to have his digital camera with him. He showed me a photograph of the pawprint which he said appeared to be about 7 or 8 inches long. He had another picture of the same pawprint where he placed a shotgun shell in the middle of it for scale. He told me that he was lucky that the side of the road was so soft, because he wasn’t willing to go any farther than two or three steps away from the door to his truck to get a picture. I inquired if the animal had made any sounds before it disappeared and he said that he did not hear it make any noise and were it not for the picture, he would have thought that he had imagined the whole thing. . I asked him if it could have been a bear and he stated “absolutely not”. He bear hunts every year in the U.P., so he obviously knows what bears look like up close. That's his story. Believe it if you like. If I didn’t know him as well as I do, and hadn’t seen the pictures, I would have said that he was out of his mind. I’ve heard the song and know some of the stories, but always believed it was just for entertainment value. After this happened though, I’m looking at all of this under a whole new light." Alpena, MI 2001 The following account was received via e-mail. It comes from the eastern side of Michigan's lower peninsula, an area rich in lowlands and forests. "My dad and I have a story to tell about our encounters with the Dogman. My dad's story took place in the mid 70's. There is a cemetery behind the Alpena high school and a wooded area behind that. There are many trails that run through here. In this area is a place called The Sandies, where all the young kids would go and party. My dad and two of his buddies were in a canoe in broad daylight paddling from The Sandies around the back of the cemetery. The banks of the river are 10-12 feet high in places, and some trails run right to the edge. The three of them saw what looked to be a big dog running behind them on the trail. They didn't pay much attention to it until they heard a splash. When they looked it was swimming after them, then it went from a dog paddle to the chest and front legs coming out of the water and wading after them. They decided right then not to wait around to see what it was. Honestly i thought it was B.S. at the time, and I'm still not sure even to this day if it was something they had been smoking or drinking. Then around 2001-2002, I was leading some friends through The Sandies trails. I used to like taking people out there without a flashlight and tell them my dad's story to freak them out. The girls were freaked out before we even got into the woods so I decided not to scare them that night. In the river are small several islands connected by a small sliver of land. At that time there were three such islands chained together and I took them through to the last one which was planted with pines in nice even rows. I was the first one back there, about 30 seconds ahead, when one of the girls got her foot hung up on something. As I was going back to help her, there was a spot where the trees make a sort of roof effect which is really cool looking at night with the moon shining through. At that point I saw something. I'm not sure what it was, but it sent me running out double time. When my buddy saw my face he didn't say a word, he just followed, both of us dragging the girls behind us. When he asked me later why i came out in such a hurry, i told him it was because I thought I had seen something at the other end of the island walking through the trees that was very tall and not likely human. He may not have believed me, but he never questioned it either. I'm still not sure what I saw. It could easily have been that I scared myself with dad's story and was seeing things, but I know this: I still don't like the dark, and even though I love hunting, I hate going out before the sun comes up during deer season." Big Rapids, MI 1961 Image shot by a night watchman near Big Rapids in 1961 Encounters reports are often accompanied by evidence, and sometimes it can be quite startling. This is such an account. "When I was a boy, my father was the night watchman at a manufacturing plant located in a rural area between Big Rapids and Chippewa Lake, Michigan. Our house (which if I remember right was a perk of the night watchman job) was across the street from the factory. The plant building was right next to a large wilderness area of State land. At that time it was simply known as the Haymarsh, but now it is officially called the Haymarsh State Game Area. We didn't understand it at the time, but dad was always very skittish about letting us play outside after dark. He would sometimes talk about hearing coyotes or bears roaming around in the haymarsh when he was walking the perimeter of the building at night. One night in the summer of 1961, dad walked back to the house to sit on the porch and have a cup of coffee and a sweet roll. He had a good view of the entire plant property. He saw some movement near a chain link fence behind the building. This was approximately 3:00am, so he felt quite sure this person wasn't there by accident. He drew his gun and watched for a few minutes. That's when he noticed this was not a person at all, but something much taller. He said it appeared to be covered in brown/grey hair. It had very broad shoulders and a powerful chest. It alternated between walking on four legs, then standing up on two. He said it seemed to be looking for something along the driveway. He said later he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He quietly moved into the house and grabbed his Kodak Signet 35mm camera, which was his pride and joy. At this point I should mention that dad was quite a photography buff. His father had owned one of the first camera stores in Ohio, and dad got the shutterbug from grandpa. As he stepped back onto the front porch, the creature moved slowly along the driveway, directly under the lights. He adjusted the camera shutter for a long exposure, held it as still as he could (he said he was shaking pretty bad by then) and snapped a picture. I've enclosed a print of it in this letter. Dad said a few seconds later, the thing dropped back down to all fours, and slowly moved off into the woods (to the left in this picture). He sent a print to the local newspaper, and sent copies to several magazines. One that I think was called "Mysterion" published the photo in their Spring issue of 1962. Dad had a copy of the magazine for years, but it was misplaced after he passed away. I still have the negative strip that contains this image, if you would like to have someone examine it. I also still have dad's Kodak Signet. I haven't shot any pictures with it for several years, but I'm pretty sure it still works. I take no credit for the above pics/text, they all belong to www.michigan-dogman.com.